By Ti'Juana Hardwell

Hope Street Youth Development

Wichita, KS

Ti'Juana Hardwell, a 16-year-old NPA leader, wrote the following response to an article by syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin who referred to NPA as "letf-wing thugs" and "grievance mongers" after the visit to Karl Rove's house:

In my lifetime I have been called intelligent and ambitious, and was even acknowledged by our local paper as an emerging leader. But, it was not until just recently that I was labeled a member of “a guerilla group,” a “professional grievance monger,” and a “thug.”

The real story behind our visit to Karl Rove’s house remains that after numerous attempts to contact Mr. Rove in his office, concerned citizens of National People’s Action (NPA) came thousands of miles from home by plane, by car, and by bus to meet with him at his residence on March 28, 2004. We came to take “direct action” because we had no other option.

The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) is a bill currently in Congress, which would allow in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrant college students seeking citizenship. All we asked of Rove, whom is President Bush’s Senior Policy Advisor, was his support for the DREAM Act. It is estimated that there are 50,000-65,000 undocumented students who graduate from U.S high schools each year and have no option to go to college because they can’t afford to pay out-of-state tuition rates. That’s a sad cost to pay after living, bleeding, and knowing only the American race.
Prior to visiting Rove’s house, we tried through letters and phone calls to get a meeting with him or one of his representatives. However, he refused to meet with us or to send someone in his place. There are 43 Senators who support the DREAM Act, but the White House has not taken a public stance on it. We need the White House’s support for the bill to get the Senate to vote on it this year.

Rove watched from the inside of his home as NPA chanted and held signs that read ‘Say Yes to DREAM’. In the mirror of his eyes, because I came that close, I saw a man who was finally coming to the realization that he had bullied the very citizens he serves and now we were standing up to him. Coming not to threaten Rove’s family, because that would have served zero value, we arrived only to set up a meeting with him. When those in power decide that they are above democracy, we take democracy to them.

When the police arrived, Rove was ready to meet. He met with two of our leaders in his garage and told us that the White House’s position on the DREAM Act is posted on the Web site. We have searched the Website and have not found even a single reference to the DREAM Act.

The protest received coverage in the Washington Post and on CNN, but it was a piece written by conservative columnist Michelle Malkin that upset me. Shortly after the visit to Rove’s house, I arrived at my home-based organization to work towards bettering Wichita schools. Instead someone distracted my attention elsewhere. I read and analyzed a poorly written and ill-mannered article written by Michelle Malkin posted on World Net Daily. She attacks NPA in order to make false accusations that our acts are that of “left wing thugs.” Might I now mention that during our visit to Rove’s house, never once did we snatch a purse or hijack a car. We are a well-disciplined organization, contradictory to that of thugs.

Being portrayed as such in a society that is supposed to encourage democratic involvement does everything to discourage democracy. They insist NPA drove thousands of miles away to “invade the private property of their victims and intimidate their families.” I tell you, the truth is that for years the very neighborhoods in which NPA reside, are in conditions that victimize us. We are victims of inadequate housing, a lack of educational resources, insufficient jobs, loan sharks, and discrimination. Yet, when we stand up to those who allow it, they try to intimidate us and ignore our requests to form partnerships, which would surely improve these conditions.

It may be true that because of NPA’s persistent encouragement for Rove to set up a meeting with us for a powerful partnership, children inside of Rove’s home began to cry. We’re not the terrorists we are accused of being, but children crying inside of Rove’s house is not something we should solely pay pity towards. I ask, “What about the children back in our communities being terrorized?” Our communities have children too, and unfortunately Mr. Rove did not seem to care about them. Instead, the inactions and greed of a few in power often harm us and “darken” our lives. Now Rove knows how millions of ordinary Americans — who don’t have Secret Service protection — feel when illegal invaders overrun their homes and darken their doors.
It angered me to read and then know that media will derive negativity when groups of nonviolent citizens demand better conditions in their communities. My own spirits were butchered like a pig in a meat-packing factory.

Honestly, I don’t care about labels, that of liberal or conservative. I’m all about improving my community by any means necessary as someone who cherishes living in America. When the system doesn’t work, NPA tries to fix it. To me, the greatest sin would be to sit back and wait for change to knock on my door and say it’s safe to come outside.

It is unfortunate that I live in the same society where there are “Michelle Malkins” or people who want to see change but don’t want to make it. Books such as “Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals and Other Foreign Menaces to our Shores” talk about the problems in America but don’t say anything about how to solve them. Instead its blatantly racist narrative places the blame squarely on the backs of those who want so badly to make America great.

When I consider the policies that Malkin is advocating, it makes me realize who the real terrorists are. It’s most disappointing that those are the kind of books that become national best sellers. Those are books that are all talk and no action. Those are books that I would trash because I already know what the problems are. I live with them!

Unfortunately for Malkin, I am 16-years of age with my whole life ahead of me. And with Malkin’s misfortune, she will live to see me taking “direct action.” She will read headlines that say ‘Schools receive funding necessary to better education’ and ‘Communities join together and hold city officials accountable’. One can’t really want change unless they’re out there making it.